06/18/2026
If God is sovereign (meaning He ultimately controls, orchestrates, and wills all things), then why does Jesus so graphically describe the battle between light and darkness, Spirit and flesh, and good and evil?
Why did Jesus come to destroy the works of the devil (1John 3:8) if the devil’s works are God’s will? Why are we commanded to submit to God and resist the one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy?
Why are we exhorted to lay hands on the sick and heal them if sickness could be God’s will?
Why would God commission civil government to be “a terror to evil works” (Rom. 13:1-4) if God Himself is directly or indirectly behind all the evil in the earth? Wouldn’t God be worthy of arrest and punishment under His own justice system?
Perhaps “sovereign” does not mean “controlling”. Perhaps it means that God chose to create man in His image, with His capacity to choose, and to establish His will on earth.
God is not the perpetrator of evil, nor is the devil working for Him. Fallen man and Satan are the agents of evil. Jesus came to redeem us from death and darkness and equip us to bring love, light, and life to a fallen world.
Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. (Titus 2:14)
By Barry Bennett